Little League World Series
The Little League World Series starts in earnest this week. Over the last few weeks I have caught parts of the various regional games as the field has been narrowed down to the 16 teams that get invited to play in the championship rounds in South Williamsport, Pa.
Now the two fields, US and International, have been filled out and the teams will start to play for the glory that is winning the championship an event that virtually every baseball fan I know wishes that they had the opportunity to play in. Where I grew up one of the local teams made it (but lost 2-0) when I was young and the younger brothers and sisters of the players got reflected glory for even being related.
It is interesting to note that in the 66th playing of the LLWS, US teams have won 33 times and international have won 32 times. Will an international squad even the score this year?
There are eight regional sections in the US Pool:
1) Mid-Atlantic: Par Troy East Little League, Parsippany, N.J.
2) West: Petaluma National Little League, Petaluma, Ca.
3) Southwest: McAllister Park, San Antonio, Texas
4) Great Lakes: New Castle Little League, New Castle, Ind.
5) New England: Fairfield Little League, Fairfield, Conn.
6) Midwest: Kearney Little League, Kearney, Neb.
7) Southwest: Goodlettsville Little League, Goodlettsville, Tenn.
8 ) Northwe
st: Gresham Little League, Gresham, Or.
As well as eight in the International Pool:
1) Caribbean: Pariba Little League, Willemstad, Curacao
2) Japan: Kitasuna Little League, Tokyo,
3) Mexico: Oriente Little League, Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
4) Europe: Kaiserslautern Military Command (KMC) American Little League
5) MEA (Mideast & Africa) Lugazi Little League, Lugazi, Uganda
6) Latin America: Aguadulce Cabezera Little League, Aguadulce, Panama
7) Canada: Hastings Community Little League, Vancouver, British Columbia
8 ) Asia-Pacific: Kuei-Shan Little League, Taoyuan County, Taipei
The first round is a double elimination round that starts on August 16 with Japan vs. Caribbean and then an additional three games, all broadcast on a variety of ESPN outlets including ABC, ESPN HD, ESPN3.com and ESPN 3D. I think that with mid-day starts fans will appreciate the ability to use ESPN3.com’s watchESPN and view the games live on their work computer or mobile device.
I did not realize the scope to which the tournament and others related to it has grown over the years. While this article mostly mentions the Little League Baseball World Series, the 66th annual, there are seven additional tournaments in all.
The other seven Little League World Series dates and sites are: Big League Baseball (15-18-year-olds; Easley, S.C.; July 25-Aug. 1); Big League Softball (14-18-year-olds; Kalamazoo, Mich.; Aug. 1-8); Senior League Softball (13-16-year-olds; Lower Sussex, Del.; Aug. 5-11); Little League Softball (11-12-year-olds; Portland, Ore.; Aug. 9-15); Junior League Softball (12-14-year-olds; Kirkland, Wash.; Aug. 12-18); Junior League Baseball (12-14-year-olds; Taylor, Mich.; Aug. 12-18); and Senior League Baseball (13-16-year-olds; Bangor, Maine; Aug. 12-18).
